The UK’s The Daily Mail online newspaper, a place with some, ahem, very talented writers, has a brief mention of an ongoing battle between British actresses Emily Blunt and Ruth Wilson for the role of Ms. Marvel in Joss Whedon’s hotly anticipated comic book sequel “The Avengers 2″.

Take this with a grain of salt? You betcha.

Has Whedon even finished writing the script for “The Avengers” yet? Or started? I doubt it. The guy only has a million other things on his plate at the moment. So how is it that he and Marvel are already reaching out to potential actors to play roles? Much less have two actresses already locked in a supposed “head-to-head race” for said role? The film is, after all, not due until 2015. This seems mighty early to be casting already, don’t you think?

Nevertheless, given the trajectory of “The Avengers” and Marvel’s upcoming space-heavy films (like “The Guardians of the Galaxy”), it makes perfect sense to introduce Ms. Marvel in some form or another in “The Avengers 2″. In comic book lore, Ms. Marvel is an Air Force Major name Carol Danvers, who develops powers later on in her character’s history, becoming the fetching, barely clothed lass you see in the picture top left.

If this report ends up being true, it would be somewhat ironic as Emily Blunt was originally Marvel’s #1 choice to play The Black Widow in their movies, but she bugged out on them and was replaced by Scarlett Johansson, who has actually done a very, very fine job in the role. Ruth Wilson, meanwhile, will be making her Hollywood debut with Johnny Depp in “The Lone Ranger”.